What you’re looking at is not a discarded cigarette package, it’s a detailed painting by artist Tom Pfannerstill on a carved piece of basswood. His artworks are made based on objects he finds in the street, which he carefully catalogs, noting the time and place of each. These re-created artifacts act as a very personal record of his movements through time and space. For him, creating these 3D memories is “strangely comforting in a world that is increasingly electronic and virtual”.

For the past ten years Philadelphia-based artist Kim Alsbrooks has been painting miniature portraits on trash. Her series “My White Trash Family” began when she became interested in historical biases in art, and specifically portraits painted during the watercolor on ivory era (17th-18th century).

Alsbrooks finds trash that has already been flattened on the street, and chooses a portrait to fit each specific piece of trash. She gessoes them, draws the image in graphite, paints with oils and varnishes.